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FIREARMS ACT, 1936

An Act to amend the Firearms Act, 1920, and the Firearms Act, 1934, and in connection therewith to amend subsection (2) of section five of the Firearms and Imitation Firearms (Criminal Use) Act, 1933.
[31st July 1936]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

• 1.-
  1.   An application for the grant or renewal of a certificate under section one of the principal Act shall be made to the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant resides in such form as may be prescribed by rules made under section fifteen of that Act, and shall state such particulars as may be required by the said form.
  2.   Subject to the provisions of this Act and proviso (b) to subsection (2) of section one of the principal Act, there shall be payable on the grant of a certificate a fee of five shillings, and on the renewal of a certificate, or on any variation of a certificate which increases the number of firearms to which the certificate relates, or on the replacement of a certificate which has been lost or destroyed, a fee of two shillings and sixpence:
       Provided that, where a certificate is varied as aforesaid and renewed or replaced at the same time, no fee shall be payable on the variation.
  3.   No fee shall be payable on the grant, variation or renewal of a certificate if the chief officer of police is satisfied that the certificate relates solely to and, in the case of a variation, will continue when varied to relate solely to -
     1.   a firearm or ammunition which the applicant requires as part of the equipment of a ship; or
     2.   a signalling apparatus, or ammunition therefor, which the applicant requires as part of the equipment of an aircraft or aerodrome; or
     3.   a slaughtering instrument, or ammunition therefor, which the applicant requires for the purpose of the slaughter of animals.
  4.   No fee shall be payable on the grant or renewal of a certificate relating solely to a firearm which is shown to the satisfaction of the chief officer of police to be kept by the applicant as a trophy of war, or on any variation of a certificate the sole effect of which is to add such a firearm as aforesaid to the firearms to which the certificate relates, if the certificate is granted, renewed or varied subject to the condition that the applicant shall not use the firearm.
  5.   Every certificate shall specify, in addition to the matters mentioned in subsection (3) of section one of the principal Act, the conditions (if any) subject to which it is held, and the chief officer of police for the area in which the holder resides may at any time by notice in writing vary those conditions, except such of them as may be prescribed, and may by the notice require the holder to deliver up the certificate to him within twenty-one days from the date of the notice for the purpose of amending the conditions specified therein, and if the holder fails to comply with that requirement the officer may revoke the certificate.
  6. No offence under section one of the principal Act shall be deemed to have been committed -
     1.   in the case of any person -
        1.   by having in his possession a firearm or ammunition on board a ship, or a signalling apparatus or ammunition therefor on board an aircraft or at an aerodrome, as part of the equipment of the ship or aircraft or aerodrome; or
        2.   by removing a signalling apparatus or ammunition therefor, being part of the equipment of an aircraft, from one aircraft to another at an aerodrome, or from or to an aircraft at an aerodrome or from a place appointed for the storage thereof in safe custody at that aerodrome, or by keeping any such apparatus or ammunition at such a place; or
        3.   if he has obtained from an officer of police a permit for the purpose in the prescribed form, by removing a firearm from or to a ship, or a signalling apparatus from or to an aircraft or aerodrome, to or from such place and for such purpose as may be specified in the permit; or
     2.   in the case of a person licensed under section three of the Slaughter of Animals Act, 1933, by having in his possession a slaughtering instrument and ammunition therefor in any slaughter house or knacker's yard in which he is employed, or in the case of the proprietor of a slaughter house or knacker's yard, or a person appointed by him to take charge of slaughtering instruments and ammunition therefor for the purpose of storing them in safe custody at that slaughter house or knacker's yard, by having in his possession a slaughtering instrument or ammunition therefor for that purpose; or
     3.   in the case of a person taking part in a theatrical performace or any rehearsal thereof, or in the production of a cinematographic film, by having in his possession a firearm during and for the purpose of the performance, rehearsal or production; or
     4.   in the case of any person, by having in his possession a firearm at an athletic meeting for the purpose of starting races at that meeting; or
     5.   in the case of a person who has obtained from the chief officer of police for the area in which he resides a permit for the purpose in the prescribed form, by having in his possession a firearm or ammunition in accordance with the terms of the permit.
  7.   Paragraphs (d), (h) and (j) of the proviso to subsection (8) of section one of the principal Act, and the First Schedule to that Act, shall cease to have effect.
  8.   Subsection (2) of section thirteen of the principal Act, and any dispensation thereunder granted before the commencement of this Act, shall cease to have effect at the expiration of three months from the commencement of this Act, and no such dispensation shall be granted after the commencement of this Act.
  9.   In this section the expression "certificate" means a firearm certificate.
• 2.-
  1.   Notwithstanding any rule of law whereunder the provisions of the principal Act do not bind the Crown, so much of section one of that Act as relates to the purchase, but not so much thereof as relates to the possession, of firearms and ammunition shall apply to persons in the service of His Majesty in their capacity as such, subject, however, to the following modifications:-
     1.   a person in the sevice of His Majesty duly authorised in writing in that behalf may purchase firearms or ammunition for the public service without holding a firearm certificate:
     2.   a person in the naval, military or air service of His Majesty shall, if he satisfies the chief officer of police on an application under the said section one that he is required to purchase a firearm or ammunition for his own use in his capacity as such, be entitled without payment of any fee to the grant of a firearm certificate authorising the purchase.
  2.   Paragraphs (a) and (f) of the proviso to subsection (8) of section one of the principal Act shall cease to have effect.
  3.   For the purposes of this section, and for the purpose of the application of any such rule of law as aforesaid to the provisions of the principal Act, a member of a police force shall be deemed to be a person in the service of His Majesty.
• 3.-
  1.   The prescribed particulars which a person applying to be registered in any area as a firearms dealer under subsection (1) of section eight of the principal Act is required to furnish shall include particulars of every place of business at which he proposes to carry on business within the area as a firearms dealer, and the chief officer of police for that area shall, subject as hereinafter provided, enter in the register every such place of business.
  2.   Every person registered as a firearms dealer in any area (whether before or after the commencement of this Act), who proposes to carry on business as such at any place of business in that area which is not entered in the register, shall notify the chief officer of police for that area and furnish him with such particulars as may be prescribed, and the officer shall, subject as hereinafter provided, enter that place of business in the register.
  3.   A chief officer of police, if he is satisfied that any place of business notified to him by any person under either of the last two foregoing subsections, or any place entered as the place of business of any person in the register of firearms dealers, is a place at which that person cannot be permitted to carry on business as a firearms dealer without danger to the public safety or to the peace, may refuse to enter that place of business in the register, or remove it from the register, as the case may be.
  4.   Any person aggrieved by any such refusal or removal may appeal, in accordance with so much of the provisions of the First Schedule to this Act as relates to appeals, to the court of quarter sessions having jurisdiction in the county, borough or place in which there is situated the place of business to which the appeal relates.
  5.   If any registered firearms dealer has a place of business which is not entered on the register for the area in which that place is situated, and carries on business as a firearms dealer at that place, he shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds or to both such imprisonment and fine:
       Provided that this subsection shall not apply to any person registered as a firearms dealer at the commencement of this Act until the expiration of three months from the commencement of this Act.
• 4.-
  1.   The fee payable under subsection (1) of section eight of the principal Act on registration as a firearms dealer in any area shall be five pounds instead of one pound:

     Provided that no fee shall be payable if the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant has applied to be registered is satisfied that the only place of business in respect of which the application is made -

     1.   has become situated in that area by reason of an alteration of the boundary of the area and was previously entered in the register for another area; or
     2.   is one to which the applicant proposes to transfer the business previously carried on by him at a place entered on the register for another area.
  2.   On or before the first day of June in each year, every person for the time being registered as a firearms dealer in any area shall -
     1.   surrender to the chief officer of police for that area his certificate of registration; and
     2.   apply in the prescribed form for a new certificate of registration; and
     3.   pay a fee of one pound;

     and thereupon that officer shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of section eight of the principal Act (which empower a chief officer of police to remove the name of a dealer from the register), grant him a new certificate of registration.

  3.   If any such person as aforesaid fails to comply with all or any of the requirements of the last foregoing subsection on or before the first day of July in any year, the chief officer of police shall by notice in writing require him to comply therewith, and if he fails to do so within twenty-one days from the date of the notice, or within such further time as that officer may in special circumstances allow, shall cause his name to be removed from teh register.
  4.   Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of section two of the principal Act, it shall be lawful for an auctioneer to sell by auction, expose for sale by auction, and have in his possession for sale by auction, a firearm or ammunition without being registered as a firearms dealer, if he has obtained from the chief officer of police for the area in which the auction is held a permit in the prescribed form for that purpose and complies with the terms of the permit; and nothing in subsection (6) of the said section two (which requires a register of transactions to be kept) shall apply to the sale of firearms or ammunition by auction in accordance with the terms of a permit issued under this subsection.
• 5.-
  1.   Any appeal from a decision of a chief officer of police for an area in England under subsections (4), (5) or (6) of section one of the principal Act (which relate to the grant, variation, renewal and revocation of firearm certificates) or under subsection (4) of section eight of that Act (which relates to registration as a firearms dealer) shall, instead of lying to a court of summary jurisdiction in accordance with rules made by the Lord Chancellor, lie to quarter sessions in accordance with so much of the provisions of the First Schedule to this Act as relates to appeals.